My brother Steve Moreno was diagnosed with Stage 3 Bladder cancer.   We greatly appreciate any donations to help with medical and daily living expenses.

 

September 6th, 2019-

A tumor was found on Steve's bladder and surgery was immediately scheduled to have it removed.

 

September 18th, 2019- (the day after their 31st wedding anniversary)

We received the results of the pathology report and got the news no one wants to hear. We were told Steve had Stage 3 bladder cancer.  The cancer was in his bladder wall and in the muscles of the bladder and he would need to have the bladder removed along with his prostate and about 20 pelvic lymph nodes to keep the cancer contained and prevent it from spreading to other parts of his body.

 

Our whole lives changed that day in every way and we immediately went into "getting through it all... one day at a time" mode. 

 

From mid October to January-

Steve went through 12 weeks of chemo. He continued to work full time for the first few weeks even though he was struggling with all of the side effects of chemo.  By the end of chemo, he was too ill to continue working full time and had to cut back his hours which cut back the family's monthly income.  

 

On February 5th, 2020

Steve had a 9 and 1/2 hour part manual/part robotic surgery done at UW Hospital to remove his bladder, prostate, lymph nodes and recreate a Neobladder using part of his intestine. It was discovered during surgery that his prostate was cancerous too but that the chemo had done it's job. We also received the news that the surgery was considered a success and that the long, hard 12 weeks of chemo were worth it.  There were no longer active cancer cells detected! 

 
February 23, 2020-

We had a set back with his recovery. Steve had to be taken by ambulance back to UW with severe complications from the surgery.  He spent 2 days in ICU and a total of 5 days before he was released back home again. This was a huge setback to his recovery but his fight and determination has not wavered.  He has been working with a physical therapist to rebuild his strength and endurance and has just begun to take more steps without using the walker.  Steve has always been a strong, athletic person who has literally built many things from the ground up and now needs to build himself back up.  He is doing it ...one day at a time.




  His wife has taken a leave of absence to be his full time caregiver.  At last check in, the State expects it to be at least 9 more weeks before Steve's medical leave is processed and payments will be received.  In the meantime, medical bills arrive in the mail on a daily basis and it has become a huge financial burden and stress trying to continue to cover basic monthly expenses-mortgage, utilities, medications along with all the extra medical expenses and trying to continue to help with tuition costs for 2 of their kids in college. All previous available funds have been depleted while trying to stay afloat over the last 6 months since his diagnosis and bills are mounting daily.

 

We are so thankful to announce “He is cancer free  Thank you to all who have had him in there prayers and continue to pray for his recovery”